Most landscape architecture projects conjure up an image of a permanent structure meant to be experienced indefinitely. But for , a 2016 graduate of the 91探花鈥檚 master鈥檚 program, it means exploring the temporary nature of urban terrains.
Earlier this year, Shepard brought life back to a vacant and demolished lot in the University District 鈥� although it was only a short-lived endeavor.
Shepard鈥檚 thesis project 鈥溾�� centered around a Washington State Employee Credit Union-owned site, once home to Clark鈥檚 Restaurant decades ago.
will soon use the site, located at 1121 NE 45th Street, for its new building. But for one week in March, it was part art exhibit, part archeological dig and part garden.
While studying landscape architecture at the UW, Shepard said his work focused on revelatory design, an approach that reveals hidden ecological, cultural or material qualities in a site.
鈥淚 started to look at urban sites in transition 鈥� margins, cleared sites, vacant lots awaiting new construction 鈥� and began to understand them as fallow sites, places where a new kind of interaction could emerge to reveal the landscape鈥檚 genius loci,鈥� Shepard said.
Once completed, passersby聽were encouraged to walk through Site 1121 along the prefabricated boardwalks and examine the artifacts that were uncovered, which were laid out on work tables.
A copper fitting found at Site 1121. Photo: Britton Shepard
A copper valve found at Site 1121.
Oil tank valve found at Site 1121.
Shepard said the short-term nature of the installation was a key to its success.
鈥淧eople really connected to the opportunity to 鈥榟it pause鈥� and observe the changing forms in the urban landscape,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ach visitor had to grasp the fact that Site 1121 would only last for a week, and that soon a new building would occupy the site.鈥�
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This approach, he added, could be done at various sites throughout the city.
鈥淭he fabric of the city is changing so much and so fast, we can be looking for ways to prioritize more culturally and environmentally activated places,鈥� Shepard said. 鈥淚 have presented this idea to the Seattle Parks Department as a way of curating some of the many land-banked sites they are responsible for. I also think the university could follow this design approach to improve the livability and urban integration of the campus ecosystem as it grows.鈥�